1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to musical instrument stands in general and more particularly to an improved portable saxophone stand.
2. General Background
Generally musicians utilize instrument stands of some description to support their instruments when not in use. Such stands typical of wind instrument stands are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,187,947, 4,572,050, 5,253,563, 4,407,182, 4,695,022 and 4,145,950. However, only the 4,572,050 and 4,187,947 patent disclose designs that include accommodations for saxophones. The need to support such wind instruments is widely accepted, as well as the need to prevent damage to the instrument should the instrument be tipped over. However, other than providing a larger or more sturdy base for the stand and perhaps providing a break away peg attached to a flat support as suggested by the 4,145,959 patent, little has been done to prevent instrument damage.
Saxophones, due to their particular configuration, are most often damaged as a result of being tipped over while on a stand. However, the stand need not necessarily tip over to cause damage to the instrument. The saxophone need only rotate within the confines of the stand's support members, causing damage to the keys, or contact an adjacent instrument to cause damage to the instrument. As indicated by the prior art disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,572,050 and 4,187,947, saxophones can be either supported when not in use or used for strapless support while playing. In either case the instrument must be readily accessible or repeatedly removable from the stand, if required, without damage to the instrument. As discussed by the prior art and or acknowledged by the art in general, the instrument stand should be sturdy, compact, stable, light weight and collapsible for easy portability. Prior art saxophone stands in particular fail to provide many of these features by being top heavy with the instrument in place, require attendance at all times, or place severe stress on the structural elements of the instrument as is the case in U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,947 where the full weight is place on the rim of the bell mouth portion of the instrument. In this case, if the instrument is struck, severe damage to the bell mouth will occur regardless of any other damage. It should be noted that the saxophone in this case is allowed to rotate on the stand and in doing so causes damage to the rim. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,050 patent discloses a stand for supporting the instrument while playing thus, by necessity, the instrument must rotate in the support elements. In this case he instrument is off balance and subject to tipping if left unattended. It is therefore the principle object of the present invention to provide a wind instrument stand especially for saxophones which prevents accidental rotation of the instrument relative to instrument's support members. .
Another object is to provide a stable, and portable instrument stand that is both light weight and collapsible.
Still another object is to provide a stand with ability for connecting a plurality of stands and adapting such stands for use with a plurality of instruments.